Sergio Busquets considered retiring in 2024 — is this his final season?
Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano revealed last week that the Spanish midfielder contemplated calling it a career last year
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Inter Miami head coach Javier Mascherano started talking about some of his superstar players late last week when he suddenly and subtly dropped an eyebrow-raising nugget:
Sergio Busquets considered retiring in 2024.
Busquets is in his third season with Inter Miami, and contractually it is his last. The Spanish midfielder who will turn 37-years old in July signed with the South Florida side through the end of this season back in summer 2023, but him competing in the current campaign was not always a sure thing.
“I think Busi is having one of the best seasons on our team, without a doubt,” Mascherano said last Friday. “Talking to him he feels very good and very happy. I would even dare to say he wants to keep playing.
“That was not necessarily clear to him last year.”
While Busquets has not been publicly broached on the subject of retirement recently, the World Cup winner may have alluded to this being the final season of his illustrious career in the immediate aftermath of Inter Miami’s elimination in the Concacaf Champions Cup last week.
Busquets was asked by Miami Total Futbol about La Rosanegra’s shortcomings in the semifinals series vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps that ended in a 5-1 aggregate loss, and he responded by talking about Inter Miami returning to the competition without including himself in it.
“Hopefully this will serve the club so that in the future it can reach the final in this tournament and why not win it,” said Busquets.
Of course, Busquets could always opt to sign a new deal with Inter Miami that extends his time in South Florida. The MLS organization has, however, been prioritizing a contract extension for star playmaker Lionel Messi. What’s more, Inter Miami has been linked with a move for Belgian central midfielder Kevin De Bruyne in what could be another sign that the team is preparing for life after Busquets.
Regardless of what the future beyond this season holds for Busquets, he remains a key component of the present project. Busquets and and the rest of Mascherano’s men are currently focused on the MLS regular season, but the high-profile task of playing in the expanded Club World Cup looms large.
He figures to be a part of that historic participation next month, even if he is not giving Inter Miami and himself much chance of making a deep run.
“It is clear we are not at the level to compete for the Club World Cup, but we will try to compete in the group,” Busquets told DAZN, the streaming service that will broadcast the international tournament’s matches. “We will go game by game and battle. Hopefully we can make it to the knockout rounds, but it will be difficult.”